Category: Tutorials

Free IDE for Corona SDK with autocompletion and parameter info

The amazing IntelliJ IDE has an even more amazing Lua plugin creating the perfect Corona SDK development environment:

Real time Lua parsing.
Syntax error notification.
VCS (Git, SVN, etc) and console in the editor.
Launch Corona Simulator from the code.
Corona autocompletion and parameter info (with the Corona API reference for IntelliJ initially created by sylvanaar2 and now updated by me).
And more!

And it’s free! (IntelliJ Community Edition). Here is a video tutorial showing step by step how to setup IntelliJ Community Edition to be a Corona SDK editor (but it works for IntelliJ Ultimate too). Watch in HD:

Download links:

IntelliJ: http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/download/index.html
Corona API reference: https://bitbucket.org/alfredbaudisch/corona-api-for-intellij-ide

Useful links:

Keyboard shortcuts you cannot miss: http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/webhelp/keyboard-shortcuts-you-cannot-miss.html
Keyboard shortcuts complete list: http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/webhelp/keyboard-shortcuts-and-mouse-reference.html

Credits: this tutorial is an improved version of the one published by Thomas Gorence and another by John Lindquist.

6 Comments by Alfred R. Baudisch on February 6, 2013

Share | filed in Tutorials | tagged corona, corona sdk, coronasdk, ide, intellij, jetbrains

Introduction to Corona SVG Level Builder – Making a Save the Totem game

Welcome to the first Corona SVG Level Builder tutorial! First and foremost I want to simplify your reading: I’ll just write Builder or SLB instead of Corona SVG Level Builder since that’s a big name!

In this tutorial I’ll show you the basic mechanics of the Builder so you can start making any kind of game with it! I’ll show you:

How setup Inkscape.
How to draw a simple level with a few elements and a few layers.
How to add life and gameplay to this level by adding touch and collision events.
The 3 ways of identifying and getting in your Lua code the bodies you draw in Inkscape: by a body ID, by a layer name and by a material name.

The game built will be a single level Save The Totem game where you have to clean the blocks that are holding the totem, and make sure the totem falls safely to the bottom.

Notice: this tutorial can take from 30 to 50 minutes mainly because it teaches you every little aspect to setup everything in order to build levels to be loaded with the Corona SVG Level Builder and the basics on how to get and deal with what you draw. Since you are getting the base, after this you probably will be making any kind of level and level based game very fast.